Rear Window Essay

823 Words4 Pages
1. In the context of film history and criticism, what is an auteur? An auteur is when the director/filmmaker has so much control and input into the movie, they they themselves are considered the “author”. 2. What is meant by the term genre? What genre is Rear Window and what recognizable elements are present in the film that help to identify its generic identity? A “genre” is a category in which music/film/art is categorized into, based on similar things like it. The genre of Rear Window would be Mystery. I put it into this category because while watching the movie you’re unsure of a lot of things. “Whats going on in that room” “Why are they doing that” and most importantly: “What is Mr. Thornwald up to?” You’re left unsure of things until the very end, and by that time he’s come into Jeff’s apartment and you don’t know if he’s going to kill him or not. It’s a mystery; until everything works out at the very end. 3. What are the principal themes in Rear Window? In other words, what is the film about? Bear in mind that this is a different issue than thinking about what happens in the film (though they are closely related of course). What are the bigger ideas to which the film is pointing us? I think the bigger issue of the movie is “don’t get into other peoples private business or it could get you in trouble” and Jeff’s vulnerability. Yes, it was for the better because Mr. Thornwald was a bad man - but it would have come out eventually. Jeff didn’t need to poke himself in other people business to find the answer and get himself hurt, in the end. Vulnerability and helplessness also play a big part because he was bound to a wheelchair, unable to escape a dangerous predicament. 4. Identify a number of different analytical positions from which we can approach any film. Define each of them briefly and explain why a feminist perspective has been used so
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